Sol 2545-2546: SAM Clean-Up and a Potpourri of Remote Sensing and Environmental Observations

Curiosity is continuing through its list of analysis details that take place after taking a drill sample. Today’s main activity is a SAM gas chromatograph column clean-up. Meanwhile, there is time to take environmental observations and more remote-sensing data. Today’s plan has quite a diversity of targets. Having analyzed enough of the nearby bedrock, our attention has turned to white vein materials. The accompanying RMI image shows Sol 2533 target “Glen Lyon,” which has some white material in the veins in the bedrock. ChemCam is targeting a wide white vein in today’s plan, called “Bighouse.” Another type of target is the pebbles. For those, ChemCam has a target at 2.3 meters called “Sliddery” using a 3x3 raster. ChemCam will add another row of RMI images (“Stony Side 2”) to a mosaic of a ridge located 180 meters from the rover. Mastcam will take documentation images of the ChemCam targets, and the Hazcams will take images of the near-rover field of view. The second day of the plan has several environmental measurements, including a Mastcam crater rim extinction and a Sun tau. Navcam will take a dust devil survey, a suprahorizon movie, a sky survey, and a zenith movie. There is also a DAN active observation, and RAD and REMS will take data.

Written by Roger Wiens, Geochemist at Los Alamos National Laboratory